How to Reduce Video File Sizes Using FFMPEG from Linux Terminal

Saving videos on personal storage drives, cloud services or disks can prove tricky when space is limited. Reducing file sizes makes holding onto larger files and growing collections easier, but some ways of doing this are more effective than others. There are a lot of tools to choose from in the video-handling arena, capable of optimizing file sizes. However, many of these – including VLC, Cinelerra and Blender – share the same engine beneath their UI – a command-line utility entitled FFMPEG. Here we will show you how you can reduce video file sizes using FFMPEG from Linux terminal. Related: Useful FFMPEG Commands for Managing… Read more

Hydaway 25-Ounce Collapsible Water Bottle review

REVIEW –  I’m a big fan of lightweight travel, but hate to “go without” or pay exorbitant prices for water. Hydaway’s collapsible bottles solve both issues with Gadgeteer style.

What is it?

Hydaway’s collapsible water bottle is a liquid-carrying vessel that has accordion-like bellows that enabling it to be compressed into a space-saving flat disk.

Hardware Specs

  • 8 x 4 inches when expanded, 1 x 4 inches when compressed (1-1/4 inches using the carbon filter lid option)
  • 25-ounce capacity
  • Weighs 6.2 ounces empty

What’s in the Box?

  • Hydaway bottle
  •  Cardboard display and information “card”

Optional:
  • Carbon filter flip-type spout lid
  • Three carbon filters
  • Instructions

Design and Features

I previously reviewed Hydaway’s original bottle and 18-ounce bottles and have been sufficiently pleased with them to make them go-to travel companions. Easy to clean, top-rack dishwasher safe and expertly crafted, I was thrilled to give their largest size 25-ounce bottle a test ride.

The bottle arrived in a sturdy box with plenty of biodegradable packing material.

Included was the carbon filter lid pack in a separate box.

The bottle is sold with just an informational cardboard display.

Hydaway’s 25-ounce bottle is virtually identical in function to the previous version. Accordion folds in the rubbery body allow the bottle to be compressed into a very compact form.

The lid is wide enough to fill the bottle with ice cubes, or alternatively, crackers or snacks, however, Hydaway states the bottle is not designed for hot beverages. The wide-mouth opening makes cleaning easy.

Not being insulated, cold drinks will cause the bottle to form condensation on the outer surfaces.

The standard lid has an integrated handle, making it easy to carry, but like the previous versions, a good jolt would separate the handle from the lid so use caution.

 

I appreciated the inclusion of the carbon filter lid pack. The lift-up spout is easier to drink from and much more secure than the standard lid.

Carbon filters fit into the underside of the lid. They help eliminate funky tastes and odors from water for up to three months. I sometimes travel to exotic locations with questionable water and would be thrilled if Hydaway would offer a bacteria and virus filter option!

The standard lid has no spout so the lid needs to be loosened or removed to let air in and out to expand or collapse the bottle. For this reason, plus spill prevention, I wholeheartedly recommend the pop-up spout lid.

On one occasion, my fast-food soft drink cup was defective, dripping soda as I walked. I was able to transfer my cola into the Hydaway bottle and carry it onboard my flight with no additional mess! If I didn’t have the Hydaway bottle with me, I would have needed to discard my beverage.

What I Like

  • Small size
  • Eliminates the need for disposable bottles
  • Easy to clean

What I Would Change

  • Include the pop-up spout as standard equipment
  • A purification filter would be outstanding!

Final Thoughts

I’ve included a Hydaway bottle in my backpack since my first review in October 2017 and have probably saved hundreds of dollars.  It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Hydaway bottles, particularly the new 25-ounce size. The design is innovative, well-constructed and ideally suited for travel.

Price: Starts at $30
Where to buy: Hydaway Bottle and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Hydaway Bottle.

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Hydaway 25-Ounce Collapsible Water Bottle review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Dine in style with Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery

CROWDFUNDING NEWS – Single-use plastics are in the news a lot lately for their non-environmentally friendly status.  What is a responsible person that loves eating fast food or Asian take-out to do?  Hop on over to Kickstarter and take a look at the Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery set.

Titanium offers several benefits.  First, it is naturally antimicrobial – much more so that the typical stainless steel used for cutlery. Titanium is completely tasteless, non-corrosive and hypoallergenic.

The full set includes a fork, knife, tablespoon, teaspoon, plus chopsticks and a straw.  A single set plus a carrying case starts at $52.  Chopsticks alone are $12.

They also offer four-piece place settings in two, four or six counts for home use.  Since they reached some stretch goals already, they offer full sets in stealth black and gold along with the standard titanium color.  Six place settings in the custom colors (24 pieces total) with a custom bamboo case run $369.

For more information, visit their campaign on Kickstarter. Funding ends Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 11:59 PM EDT.  They have already blown past their $10,000 funding goal with $136,272 pledged as of this writing.  If they hit a $200,000 stretch goal, they plan to add a rose gold set. Shipments to backers are targeted for October 2019.

If you are looking for a travel cutlery set or are looking for a really contemporary set with all the benefits titanium brings to the table (yes, I just did that), Enso Essentials might just make the cut (and that).

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Dine in style with Enso Essential pure titanium cutlery originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds review

REVIEW – It’s not a state secret that I’ve reviewed quite a few Bluetooth earbuds over the past few years and although some have worked better for me than others, I am always on the hunt for the next pair that might more closely suit my needs.  The BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds caught my attention because of their ergonomically-angled ear tips, small size, and full-featured charging case.  But how did they work out for me?  Let’s find out.  Gadget on!

What is it?

The BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds are a pair of cord-free wireless earbuds that include their own charging/storage case.

What’s in the box?

  • BW-FYE7 earbuds
  • Small, Medium, and Large silicone ear tip pairs
  • Charging/storage case
  • Micro USB charging cable
  • Instruction manual

Hardware specs

  • Weight:
    • Single Earbud: 5g
    • Charging Case: 55g
    • Total Weight: 65g
  • Bluetooth:
    • Version:V5.0
    • Chip:AIROHA1526P
    • Supported Profiles:HSP/HFP/A2DP/AVRCP
    • Transmission Distance:33 feet (10m)
    • Frequency:2.402GHz-2.480GHz, Class 2
  • Charging
    • Current:500MA-1A
    • Charging Time:
      • Time in Charging the Earbuds——2H
      • Time in Charging the Battery Case——2H
  • Input Voltage:DC5.0V
  • Battery Capacity:
    • Earbud: 50mAh Polymer battery
    • Charging Box: 500 mAh Polymer battery
  • Battery Time:
    • Monaural Earbud with Full Electricity——3-4H
    • Consuming All the Electricity of the Charging Box——Up to 16H
    • Standby Time:120h
    • Call Time:3h
  • Materials:Polycarbonate + ABS
  • Dimensions:
    • Earbud: 26*13*30mm
    • Charging Box: 70*33*35.5mm
  • Water Resistance: IPX4
  • Operating Temperature:0℃ ~45℃

Design and features

My initial impressions of the BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds were twofold: the earbuds themselves were quite small, and the charging/storage case was solid, and both looked and felt very high quality.

Features and size

Another aspect of the BW-FYE7’s design that piqued my initial interest was that the earbud “posts” were oriented at an angle to the main body of the earbuds.  My suspicion was that this was a feature to help situate the earbuds in the user’s ear in a more anatomic position.

Above and below are some photos of the earbuds themselves from various angles.  Another thing I noticed about these earbuds was that they just looked very high-tech and high quality, with the brass/gold colored posts and charging contact points, transparent components, and so on all combining to give a very expensive look and feel for a very affordable ~$40.

The BW-FYE7 included three pairs of soft silicone ear tip sizes.  Each had a core of hard plastic that helped keep them attached to the earbud posts.  Because of my larger than average ear canals, I immediately selected the largest-sized ear tips.

The ear tips were easy to install; I simply gave them a little twist as I pressed them down onto the earbud posts and did a visual check to confirm that they were fully seated.

The BW-FYE7’s main body had an oblong, essentially oval shape.  At first, it seemed to be a strange design choice—-many other true wireless earbuds are not shaped like this.  However, their shape did turn out to be significant; more on this later.

The photos above and below give a sense of the size of the BW-FYE7 earbuds.  I found them to be quite small and lightweight, which I like.

Setup

The outside of each of the earbuds had a single button and a tiny LED.  The button on each earbud is used to perform various functions.  For starters, a 3-second long press on the buttons will turn the earbuds on, while a 4-second long press will turn them off.  Three short presses will get Siri’s attention for voice commands.  When a call is incoming, a short press will answer it, a long press will reject it, and another short press will end an answered call.  A short press of either the right or left button when listening to music or podcasts will pause, a second short press will resume.  The only audio control that I found to be a bit challenging to learn was going to the next song, which required a 1.5-second longish press on the right earbud (I kept either pausing the music or shutting the earbud off altogether until I got the hang of it).  Similarly, going to the previous song required a 1.5-second longish press on the left earbud.  Overall, however, the BW-FYE7’s controls were more straightforward, intuitive, and reliable than just about any other Bluetooth earbuds I’ve tried.

Pairing the BW-FYE7  earbuds for the first time was quite straightforward.  I simply pulled each of them from their charging case and they turned themselves on automatically.  By the time I had situated them in my ears, a voice prompt was already pleasantly informing me, “Pairing mode activated.”  I went into the Bluetooth settings on my iPhone XR, ensured it was “discoverable” and quickly both BW-FYE7 R and BW-FYE7 L popped into the list.  I selected each of them and both connected to my iPhone XR and the pleasant voice informed me thusly.  I should mention here that in the vast majority of situations, the earbuds automatically re-connected themselves to my iPhone XR whenever I removed them from the charging case.  However, on a few occasions, such as if I removed them from the case and my iPhone XR was not within range, I did have to manually re-pair them with my iPhone XR, but the manual stereo re-pairing process was quite easy as well: simply hold down the multi-function buttons for 3 seconds to enter pairing mode (the tiny LEDs turn blue as seen above) and they reconnected to my iPhone XR on their own, without me even having to select them from the Bluetooth devices list again.  I’ve never tried a pair of Bluetooth headphones that stayed connected so well and were so easy to re-connect if needed.

Charging Case

As mentioned at the outset of this review, my initial impression of the BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds’ charging/storage case was that it was solid and both looked and felt very high quality.

The oval-shaped BW-FYE7 earbuds each fit perfectly into oval-shaped slots in their charging case.  Also, they magnetically attached to the case, which helped not only secure them into the case but also helped properly orient them into their respective slots every single time—they just snapped right into position.  When the BW-FYE7 earbuds were placed in the charging case, the tiny LEDs on each of them illuminated red to indicate that they were being charged via the battery in the case.   I used the BW-FYE7 earbuds during multiple workout sessions lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to just shy of 2 hours, and as long as I kept placing them back in the storage case afterward, I never fully drained them.  However, I did experiment a bit to see how long it would take to drain them completely and it took just shy of 3 hours.  From fully drained, the earbuds took about 1.5 to 2 hours to fully charge.

The lid of the charging case was nearly opaque but was also sufficiently transparent that you could see the LEDs through the lid enabling you to determine if the BW-FYE7 earbuds were still charging.  I found this to be a handy feature indeed.

The rear of the charging case had two notable features.  The first was a small, oval-shaped button (more on this button below).  The other was the micro-USB port for the charging cable.

The charging case itself had four tiny LEDs on its front.  When connected to a computer or outlet via the micro-USB port on the rear, these LEDs blinked to indicate the level of charge that has been obtained.  Once disconnected from power, these LEDs were not normally illuminated, but pressing the small, oval-shaped button the back of the charging case (see above) illuminated the LEDs on the front briefly to indicate the charge level of the case’s battery.  I found this to be another very handy feature.  The charging case took about 1.5 to 2 hours to fully charge.

The charging case was a nice size, but my only critique of it was that it was a bit of an awkward shape—it didn’t feel very comfortable when slid into a pants pocket.  If it had been a little more rounded and contoured, it would have been better.  Still, I did like its styling, how solid it felt, and that it was loaded with useful features.

Fit

I’ve reviewed quite a few Bluetooth earbuds, both wired and wireless, and the BW-FYE7 earbuds did fit into my ears in a bit of a unique way.  They were fairly low profile and didn’t protrude much from my ears, and the combination of their angled posts plus their oblong, somewhat “hook” shape seemed to help keep them in my years better than any earbuds I’ve tried yet, either wired or wireless.

When placed in the ear with the angled posts oriented straight down the ear canal, their oblong shape sort of “rested” in the little notch toward the bottom of my ear, as seen in the image above.  This seemed to really help capture them and keep them in place, even when I was exercising.  The only time they even started to come loose was when I became excessively sweaty during some very intense workouts.  In fact, even when I wore them in the rain, they stayed put, and they also continued to function without issue through both sweating and rain, which demonstrated that their water-resistance was not exaggerated.

Audio Performance

Last, but certainly not least—how did they sound?  (They *are* audio devices, after all!)  I will preface my answer to this by first stating once again that I have reviewed many different Bluetooth earbuds, and to be honest, the audio quality of most of them was acceptable—not bad by any means, but just not great.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised by the BW-FYE7 earbuds, whose sound quality was actually noticeably good to my ears.  The highs were crisp and the lows were deep, even for a very small pair of Bluetooth earbuds.  I attributed this to both their dual 6mm dynamic drivers and their solid fit in my ear canals—while their silicone ear tips did not appear to be anything unique, the combination of their anatomically-oriented posts and the way their shape  “locked” into position in my ears helped really cut down on ambient noise, allowing me to hear more of whatever I may have had pumping through their tiny speakers.

What I like

  • Sound quality is excellent
  • Earbuds are small and lightweight AND they stayed in my ears during all but the most strenuous (and sweaty) exercising
  • Charging case is well-built, solid, and has several useful features
  • Good battery life for both the earbuds and charging case
  • Generally stayed pair to my iPhone and were easy to re-connect if necessary
  • Audio controls were intuitive and worked consistently

What I’d change

  • Charging case could be a bit more rounded and contoured to feel more comfortable when in a pants pocket

Final thoughts

If you’ve read the above, by now you probably have a good idea that I was quite impressed with the BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds.  They really hit all of my requirements and included some features that I hadn’t expected or that worked even better than I did expect.  For a very affordable ~$40, the BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds are worth a serious look if you are in the market for a set of Bluetooth true wireless earbuds.

Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Amazon (use code RJ7NAGP9 at checkout to save 25% – code expires 8/31/19)
Source: The sample of this product was provided by BlitzWolf.

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BlitzWolf BW-FYE7 True Wireless Earbuds review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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WaterField just created the perfect small EDC shoulder bag

NEWS – San Francisco based WaterField Designs has been churning out awesome stuff lately and their newest bag is a small shoulder pouch called the Marqui Crossbody Pouch. All I can say is that I.want.one.now. The Marqui is a small bag that is made of black ballistic nylon with your choice of 6 colors for the full-grain leather panel on the front.

The front of the bag has a zippered pouch for your phone and the back has an open-topped pocket that you can use to quickly stow papers, ticket stubs, receipts, etc.

The interior of the Marqui has WaterField’s iconic gold lining which makes it easy to see all your EDC gear that can be placed in the pouch’s main center section or in one of the two open-topped pockets inside the bag.

The Marqui comes with a shoulder strap that has an easy to use metal cam for tightening or loosening the strap and there are two small exterior loops on either side of the bag that you can use to hang small items with carabiners.

The Marqui Crossbody Pouch is available now for $79. Visit sfbags.com for all the details.

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WaterField just created the perfect small EDC shoulder bag originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 27, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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